Sharona Gets A Round Trip Ticket

Sharona Gets A Round Trip Ticket

THE KNACK ATTACK IS (ALMOST) BACK

by

Michael Goldberg

When the Rolling Stones are on the road, they listen to 50s rock n roll and the blues. The Clash, predictably, listen to reggae. Rick James (natch) gets down to the FUNK. And the Knack? Well, the Knack listen to...Chopin?

True enough, as I find when the door connecting Knack lead guitarist/songwriter Berton Averres hotel room to bassist Prescott Niles room swings open and the oh-so-debonair bassist steps lightly into the room, followed by the sweet sounds of Chopin.

I always listen to Chopin before a gig, admits Mr. Niles, flashing a gracious smile. It helps me get centered.

Un huh...Then I look at Niles again. Hes dressed, from his skinny Meet the Beatles necktie down to his pointed shoes, completely in purple. Looking over at Averre, who looks like a Jewish kid on the eve of his bar mitzvah, what with his golden brown curls, the narrow lapeled sportcoat, the thin tie and a face as earnest as a tenderfoot Cub Scout, I cant help but notice that his outfit glows a bright shade of turquoise.

Just then mainman Doug Fieger pops through the door in traditional Knack black (black leather jacket, black collarless shirt, tight black pants and shiny black Beatle boots) to explain with utter seriousness: We did that for a while and youve got to evolve. At first we wanted to reflect a 14 or 15-year-olds attitude. It was black and white. It was either you liked it or you didnt. It was rock n roll or it wasnt. And it was rock n roll. But the music has more colors in it now.

Doug is referring, of course, to the music on the Knacks third LP, Round Trip, produced by Jack Douglas, not Mike Chapman, which includes such atypical Knackian sounds as a C&W-tinged ballad, complete with pedal steel guitar, called Pay The Devil, a jazz-style tune called Africa, a Beatles-influenced (circa 1967) psychedelic/mystical number a la Tomorrow Never Knows called We Are Waiting and a heavy metal rave-up, Art Wars, as well as more traditional Knackpop like She Likes The Beat and Boys Go Crazy.

It s an eclectic bag, a major departure for a band identified with no nonsense, straightforward rock n roll up till now. And one is tempted to see the diversification as an attempt by a desperate, hithungry Knack to produce something that will connect with radio programmers. For the Knack are not exactly the pop band on the tip of everyones tongues anymore. Not like they were 2V2 years ago when My Sharona and Good Girls Don't were blaring out of every AM radio in the country. What a rush that was for the four lads from L.A. Five million-plus albums sold; hit singles the world over; sell-out concerts; tours of Europe; tour of Japan. A Hard Days Night ad infinitum.

But its been a year and a half since the Knacks second album, .. .but the little girls understand, found the little girls less understanding than the Knack had imagined. One gets the distinct impression that the new album is as calculated as we ever imagined that first one to be, though Doug and the boys are quick to dismiss this theory. People seem to be very surprised at some of the changes, he says calmly. But those changes don't surprise us at all, because we always had that in mind.

"There's no way to hype five million sales. —Doug Fieger"

Lots of songs were written at the outset of the band and before, like years before, says drummer Bruce Gary, who is stretched out on one of the two double beds, dressed in a complete Dodgers uniform (this very day, the Dodgers won the World Series), looking a lot like Bruce Springsteen with his handsome Italian features and longish curly black hair.

A lot of people, they read into people like Brian Eno or David Bowie or David Byrne all these concepts and intellectual ideas, says Doug somewhat defensively. Where a band like ours, which is basically a pop/rock band, they think, you know, these guys are teenybop guys, they just write these songs about their sweaty fantasies and they really don't have any considered approach to their music. But when Berton and I first started writing, we said, Well what do we want to do? Well, we want to have a rock n roll band that starts from a place and that place is our remembered experience as 14 or 15-yearolds and take that band into a more mature place and take our audience along with it.

Tonight, as rain pours down, thunder booms and lightning explodes, the Knack are in Santa Cruz, a college town nearly two hours drive from San Francisco, and one of the last bastions of hippiedom in the known world. The Knack are booked into a 600 capacity club called the Catalyst. Its a long way from those 16,000 capacity coliseums jammed full of screaming girls. And the Knack seem painfullly aware of their current status.

Commenting about the backlash that greeted their initial success, as he sits on the other double bed, Doug says disgustedly, You know its cool for the Stones to be millionaire jetsetters, but its not cool for a working band to be very successful, like we are. Then he catches himself. Or have been. And hope to be again.

Were fighting our way back this time, admits Bruce, lighting a cigarette.

Its funny, says Doug, relaxing slightly, his mouth forming a lukewarm smile. Now that we have the underdog status again, there's so many people who allow themselves to like us again. Its so silly. Its so much nonsense. Why cant people just like something for what it is?

Dougs voice is a rough rasp, worn out (so he tells me) from singing the night before, and the onset of a cold. In fact, Doug looks decidedly under the weather, sitting in this standard model Holiday Inn hotel room, shivering slightly. Glancing around the room, I notice that there are no beer cans, no bottles of booze, no roaches and not even a pocket mirror or rolled up $50 bill. The hardest drugs here appear to be the cigarettes at Bruces side.

My gaze returns to Mr. Fieger. Yep, with his gaunt face and Beatle bangs, he does look like Pete Townshends younger brother. Nope, hes not smirking. In fact, none of the band look too happy as we plunge into a discussion of criticism by antiKnack forces that the band was a hype from the git-go. People have a hard time believing in magic anymore. People call what they used to call promotion hype now. Everything has a negative connotation. Our success was truly a miraculous occurence.

Totally organic, says Berton.

Totally organic, repeats Doug. Then, as if reciting a passage hes memorized from a book: We were a homegrown Hollywood band that got signed to a home label, Capitol, that put out a record that the day the record came out, went on every radio station in the country because the radio programmers loved it. Two weeks later, it had sold half a million records. Seven weeks later, it went platinum. It went platinum faster than any other debut record in the history of the record business. You cant hype that. Theres no way to hype five million sales.

Theres no way to hype a song, interjects Berton, excitedly. A friend of mine makes a good point. He says, 'If these guys were talked into becoming a success, how did My Sharona get to be number one in every country...

In Israel! shouts Doug gleefully. How did it get to be number one in Yugoslavia?

But whatever the reason for the Knacks worldwide success in 1979, it blew out minds, but in a good way, says Doug.

Like, oh wow! exclaims Bruce. But the fun of it began to sour when the weeks of touring became months and then years. We were on tour for two years without, really, any breaks, says Doug, frowning.

Yeah, we were really caught up in a whirlwind, agrees Berton.

We forgot who we were, basically, says Prescott, in a quiet voice that makes me think he may still be suffering from the effects of amnesia. When you travel so many places and then you get home and youre in your own you go, 'What am I doing here?

Were fighting our way back this time. —Bruce Gary

Or sometimes you go to the wrong home, laughs Berton, though I get the impression truth lies just beneath the surface of this joke. I woke up one morning and I said, 'Who am I? I went to the wrong house! Ive been away so long. Is that my mom?

Even his girl didnt quite remember him, leers Doug, still managing not to smirk.

Early in 1980, when,re views like the one Dave Marsh wrote for Rolling Stone appeared (The most salient characteristic of both Knack albums is their repulsive misogyny. Sexism pervades every song these guys have written... wrote Marsh, ...the music is lame...the Knack are the most nefarious sort of hacks...) and when ...but the little girls understand (which Bruce Gary admits was rushed, and an attempt to create what we did with the first album) wasnt selling so hot and spawned no hit singles and the concert halls started having those embarrassing empty seats in them...and the guys themselves realized that if they didnt watch it, they were going to burn themselves out, the Knack abruptly stopped in mid-tour and returned to L.A.

Reviews are completely , irrelevant, states Berton. When I was a kid going to concerts, I never read a review. I didnt care.

And we hope that people are more intelligent than some of the effete cognoscenti hip crowd who believes that they can be tastemakers, says Doug. We think that people are hipper than that.

I find that I give credibility to reviews depending on how positive they are, deadpans Berton, who is really turning out to be quite a comedian. I mean, a rave review just strikes me as being really true, you know? And those negative reviews, I have absolutely no respect for the writer. But when I read rave reviews, its just always brilliantly insightful. The writer obviously knows what ticks in the rock business. Then he leans over towards me and demands, So what are you gonna write?

The rest of the boys crack up at this.

Sidestepping the question with a thin smile, I ask him about all the negative response to ...but the little girls under! stand.

i I wasnt particularly surprised that i people over-reacted to ouf second album, ■ says Berton. Because positive or nega: tive, I was expecting to over-react to it just because there was so much hoopla surrounding the band that had nothing to do with the music. That was based so much on what people said about us. And the fact that we didnt say anything about ourselves (although the Knack did grant CREEM a rare interview as they were recording the second album). And the fact that we were so successful right off the bat. I think we were all suspecting that the people who didnt like the band were going to jump on us.

In fact, that album sold 600-plus thousand copies in America; around the world, probably a million, says Doug, who seems to keep track of this kind of thing. Man, it was a big album by anybodys thing...and we have nothing to apologize for. To be surprised by it, no. 'My Sharona was one of the biggest rock n roll records of all time...

That was a surprise, nods Prescott.

And you cant follow that up, insists Doug, reaching into rock n roll history for a litany of examples. The Doors never could follow up 'Light My Fire. The Beatles could never really follow up 'I Want To Hold Your Hand, really, and you don't try. The Rolling Stones could never really follow up 'Satisfaction. So in that sense, there was a lot of over-reaction and the fact that we fueled the fires by not explaining ourselves and by appearing to be what we werent, which was just musicians that had a passion about our music. Reasonably intelligent, good-looking guys...

On the ready, on the go, mugs Berton. Then he gets serious too. Its really true. The ironic thing is that the mistaken mystique that was, like, this fog around our heads was created, ironically, by a desire on our parts to avoid a mystique. We really didnt want to come off like pretentious know-it-alls, arrogant sons of bitches, like most rock people come off as, frankly. Of couse, by not talking to the press, we were naive because we ended up creating this mystique: theyre arrogant, theyre aloof...

It was a vicious circle, adds Brrice.

It was kept alive much too long, agrees Doug. See, we were on the road when our second album came out. We had two weeks to record our second album. And then we were right back on the road. And we were not around. We did not get any of the feedback cause we were in hotel rooms waking up at 7 a,,m. in the morning every day. And our management at the time, frankly, believed in the idea of the mystique and we went along with it. [The Knack have since found new management.] It was our mistake because we should have taken control of our destinies, which we did. When we stopped touring, we pulled back and said, 'Wait, were not going on tour, were going to find out what it was that went down and thats why were talking now. We still have nothing to say.

TURN TO PAGE 64

THE KNACK

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

But . it was a mistake not giving interviews, Doug now admits, shaking his head. Because people thought we were corporate assholes. That we werent sincere. Or that we were really dumb and that we were being controlled by some svengali type character and that wasnt the case. Were accused of being really Machiavellian...

Knackiavellian? puns Bruce.

And the fact of the matter is that we really got caught up in it, rather than reviewing it and considering it. If we had considered it, Im sure we wouldnt have done what we did in a lot of instances.

You know the theory about what the Knack was that I never saw, was the one that would come close to the truth, says Berton. Because, really, all we were was a working rock n roll band that had confidence and belief in our talents and the ability to get people off. And any grandiose expectations was solely the wdrk and concern of other people. We never got into it.

He pauses a moment, then says, But actually, I think we came through it really well.

.Yea, agrees Doug. Were still together!

The Catylist turns out to be a cross between a fern bar and a hippie den. Its only about half full of mostly clean-cut high school kids with short hair wearing t-shirts or button-down shirts, although there are a few grungy, long-haired Rip Van Winkles who look like theyve been stationed at the bar for a decade, their jeans and flannel shirts fading right on their bodies. A garish mural runs the length of one wall, kind of Jason and the Argonauts as rendered by an Earth Mother on acid.

Where is everybody? asks Doug, eyeing the empty dance floor.

It must be because this is a week night, says road manager Jeff Conroy quickly. Turning to me he says, You know they packed this place when they played here six months ago...that was on a weekend.

I give an understanding nod.

And its raining too, adds Doug uncomfortably.

Still, the band cant hide their disappointment that the place looks embarrassingly vacant, and I feel kind of sorry for them.

Twenty minutes later, as I stand at the side of the dance floor, sipping Heineken and watching two jocks get drunk and size up the female population of the club, the Knack arrive on stage. Yah Dodgers! shouts a fan, seeing Bruces uniform. The drummer smiles and raises a fist over his head.

Come on down, says Doug, waving the kids that are sitting around the edge of the dance floor towards the stage.

First tune up is Let Me Out, which is delivered in typical rave-up style (just like on the LF). Immediately 1 am impressed with Dougs on-stage chops. The rest of the band are fine players and look good (and sound good!) bashing away at their instruments, but it is Doug whos got the real rock n roll charisma. And as he shouts out the lyrics, a row of seven girls (heavy on the make-up) appear at the very front of the dance floor, each one gazing dreamily as Doug shimmies and shakes. Doug has made some of the classic rock moves his own; at one point he lets his guitar hang in front of him (a la Elvis P.), stands with his legs apart, knees touching and shakes his pelvis as he slides his Beatles boots to the very front of the stage, arms twitching at his sides.

The Knack mix nearly every tune off their new album with about half of Get The Knack and a handful of tunes from ...but the little girls understand. Several surprises: 1) Prescott passes his bass to Doug and sits down at an electric piano and the Knack get into some heavy blues/jazz jamming on Africa; 2) the inclusion of the Doors Break On Through (To The Other Side), although Knacks guys version is none too hot since Dougs never had much of the demonic in his voice— these guys should leave Doors covers to that other L. A. band, X; and 3) a fantastic encore of the Stones psychedelic gem, We Love You, complete with real psychedelic feedback (created by Doug) and what sound like backward guitar riffs, (And Im getting the feeling the Knack have entered their Sgt. Pepper phase.)

Predictably, the audience, which has managed to fill up much of the dance floor and is boogying wildly to the Knacks taut rock n roll grooves, respond with a bit of the old Beatlemania-styled freak-out for Good Girls Don't and a triumphant My Sharona. In fact, I find it a real thrill to watch the Knack belt out their international hits'in this intimate club. I feel like Ive witnessed the Dave Clark 5 whipping through Glad All Over during the mid-60s (well.. .at least the Knickerbockers running through Lies).

The group is called back for two encores and the kids arp ready for a third, though after an hour -and 15 minutes, the Knack have delivered nearly 20 songs at a frenzied pace. I have to admit that Im impressed by the groups passionate live performance. Its cle^r that theyve given their all, where a lesser band might have slogged through a similar gig at a half-filled club in an off-the-beaten track town like Santa Cruz.

You have to give them an 'A for effort, says road manager Jeff Conroy into my ear.

The subject is sexism. And whether or not the Knack can be legitimately accused of it, considering songs like Shes So Selfish. Were sitting in the Knacks dressing room after the show. Dougs changed into a blue and white striped shirt, and is soothing his throat with brandy. Bertons casual in faded jeans and a v-neck sweater (quite preppy, actually), Prescotts sweaty in his stage duds and only Bruce looks appropriately rock n roll crazy with an ankle-length navy wool overcoat clutched about him over the Dodger outfit.

We love women, says Doug, a smirk finally appearing on his face. And all the songs that weve ever written hold women in a mixture of awe and desire and...well we don't understand them. Were very different. But weve never written 'Under my thumb/a squirming dog whos just had her day. So if people want to rank up for being chauvinistic in whatever we might say in a song like 'Shes So Selfish... Hey, thats a feeling that a guys felt about a girl he wants to make love with and she doesnt want to make love to him. Thats all. Its so simple.

I mention one of the new songs, Boys Go Crazy, in which Doug sings, I aint a chauvinist.

I wrote that song from a wry, humorous point of view because we have been criticized for that. But the truth is that the 'boys go crazy when the girls say no/Oh yeah! And don't tell me you don't feel that way too, guys. Come on!

Doug looks around at the rest of the band, then continues, I aint chauvinist, but the girls are a different breed. I hate to tell you this [hes still quoting from the song], but you aint gonna get what you need. Cause youre not! Cause what you need is something that no other human being can necessarily give you. Its a give and take. And I don't think of us as being a chauvinist band and I don't think our songs are.

Its a question of taking it too seriously, says Berton. If someones there for a laugh and a good time, theyre not going to come away thinking Whether we downgraded the women species [sic] or not. Its very self-deprecating. Were putting ourselves in a position of ridicule. Were saying, look how jerky we are.

That jerky macho image I may don onstage, insists Doug (who, I must admit hasnt exactly been Mr. Cocky during the few hours weve spent together), Im making fun of that. Im not believing that.

The interview is over. Its 1:30 a.m. , the Knacks bedtime, I understand, and Im ushered out of the dressing room. Looking for the way out of the club, I notice Knack road manager Jeff Conroy leaning over the balcony that runs above the dance floor. He turns to me. I want that one, he says, pointing to a pretty blonde girl who looks to be about 16 years old and is standing on the floor below us., No, he says with a grin. Im fickle. Ill take that one instead.